Hi I’m struggling a bit here using pages. I imported a 2 D image ( scaled ) of a Swimming pool building plan into layout. It works great and I am able to add dimensions and all the detail I want,. My trouble begins as I have duplicated or have a second page us the same view port or image. I have learned to show separate notes, dimensions etc. on the different pages using layers.
Layers seems limited as it either its on every page or only on the single page you select. I could use a little direction there. But that isn’t my primary question.
That would be, I can activate the viewport and turn on or off tags . In my case I have a property survey that I start in Sketch up pro with and trace over or draw on top of. after I create my model I use sandbox and create a "grade " or contoured image of the lot. color it green like grass. So after I import in Layout I want to show the property survey on one page . But not on second page. On the second page I want to show the "grade " contoured image.
I can toggle tags and then export drawings seperately. That isn’t a great option if I need to go back and make changes… I suppose I can import the property survey as a separate image into Layout and manipulate the image.
Is there a way to filter tags to show different tags on separate pages in Layout?
It’s always good to include your files if you can. The wise people on the forums will find it easier to sort out your issues.
But, since none of the regulars have answer yet…
It sounds like you have a decent grasp of tags so Im wondering if you are tagging these individual objects in Sketchup? Grade lines can be grouped and tagged. Property survey lines can be grouped and tagged as well.
You can setup individual scenes then with Sketchup that show these views of your objects and then those scenes can be chosen in Layout via viewports on different pages. Of, if you fancy it, you can create one scene called “Site” and then go to Layout and on one page have that viewport show the “Site” scene but in the Sketchup panel turn off al the tags but the “Grade” tag. On the next page, use the same viewport, copy/paste it, and then turn off the “Grade” tag and turn on the “Site Survey” tag.
Use the Sketchup Panel in Layout for control of tags in any viewport.
Add to this, that when those viewports are established this, you can then go back to Sketchup and make changes to the model and the entities in those two groups, hit save, go back to Layout and right click on the viewport and hit “Update Model” and the changes will be updated to the viewport.
Another fun tip: if you open your Layout file first and go to the viewport and right click and hit “Open in Sketchup”, the next time you save the Sketchup file after some changes and return to Layout, there will be a auto-update link established and upon return all viewports connected to that file will update.
I set tags in Sketchup create 2 new scenes duplicates of the original with the tags set differently as I want for each page in layout.
I save Sketchup went to layout and was able to activate new scene .All sized and perfectly positioned with tags as they were intended !
However, still have an issue. if I change scene on one page - it changes on both ( or all ) pages. The view port is set to the layer “on every page”. I tried creating new layer shared and assigning to that but no change.
I copied and pasted new view port as well attempting to assign different scene with no success Of course still on layer "on every page ".
Seems as though I am missing a step to lock or assign a scene to each page
Don’t do this, you are essentially having one single viewport and showing it on every page. Kinda like SU components, you change one you change them all. Place viewports on the Default layer so they are unique to each page. You can copy a viewport on one page and paste it onto a new page, it will be identical to the one you copied but unique so that when you adjust its properties they will only adjust that viewport.
I was able to get it to function properly somehow. I am not sure exactly how just yet . Associated with assigning to layer and turning off visibility of the layer. I will work on this more later . Right now pizza is all I can think about lol. Thanks again.
Mmmmmm Pizza. Once you’re all filled up, if you return later be sure to upload a copy of your Layout file with your question, with that we can quickly see where you might be going astray and help you tighten up your workflow.
If you want to have viewports on every page you must copy and paste them, I usually create a layer just for viewports but it´s not set to show on every page, the only things I set to show on every page are some titles, letterheads and page numbers using auto text otherwise the same number will be displayed on every page.
That was some awesome Pizza too. Mediterranean ( olives, spinach, tomatoes, etc) with chicken. I definitely owe you one for the help. Looks like I worked through issue pasting viewport on default layer and sharing on the pages. Still had some snags on “changing Layers” with some dimensions and details ( to the appropriate layer and subsequent page). But, I just rewrote them on correct layer and all good. I 'm all set thanks again.
Thank you I can understand the logic of view port and layers a bit better now.
And limiting on every page. Still have to put in sometime understanding the layers. I think I understand but it was fighting me a bit. Definitely becoming a fan of locking and unlocking though.
I would suggest you create a template to suit your work. Add layers for viewports, demensions, text, title block stuff and other types of entities. Note for the most part you don’t need page specific layers. Here’s an example of the layers from one of my templates.
The last three layers in the list are for titleblock content and borders. The On Every Page layers are shared so the same content will show up on each sheet. Other Title Text is not share and it’s used for title block content that is unique to a single sheet. Fold Lines is also shared.
My viewports go on the Model layers. The bottom Model layer is active so when I use Send to LayOut of Insert my SketchUp model the first viewport is automatically on the correct layer. I have multiple viewport layers because I often stack viewports on a page.
Dimensions and Art Text are at the top of the list so those entites are not going to disappear behind a viewport or someLayOut drawing entities.
You should be able to just select the dimensions or other entities, right click and choose Move to Layer. Then select the desired layer.
If you want to set up a document with a single viewport on each sheet and you want them to be aligned, set up the first page and then duplicate that page to create the next one. On the new page, select the next scene and you should be good to go. Do that page setup before you start adding dimensions and other content so you don’t have to delete unwanted dimensions before adding in the ones you want.
FWIW, you might give some thought to ways you can simplify your process. For example, instead of creating separate scenes for different plan views, you might be able to use the same scene and just control tag visibility by viewport. As an example, here is a thing I set up for a demo for one of my students. Each of the viewports on these two pages come from one of only four scenes in the Sketchup model. There’s a perspective view, a plan view, and two elevations.
One thing I find important for keeping the LO file clean and easy to work with is to avoid doing anything to the viewport that results in the Reset button being displayed in the Camera section of the SketchUp Model panel.
Yes adding the Layers to my drawing template makes perfect sense along with all the typical Icons and symbols I use. I will do that when I start my next project which I hope is in the next week.
So the active layer is signified by the pencil Icon ? Yes I am learning that the sequence of layers in the table is significant. The move forward or backward doesn’t just do that. Lol that was creating some mysterious disappearances.
The visibility eyeball icon, I was thinking that was to activate visibility ( or not ) of the layer on each page, and that setting was was saved on each page. Is that the case or no?
Yes. Duplicating the viewport is important. I created a few scenes in SU, changed the tags in the scenes to eliminate elements I did not want to show. Then in layout I changed the scene on the pages to get he view I wanted. Using Tags in Layout didn’t help me much, unless maybe there was a change I needed because i didn’t create the scene correctly. Otherwise changing tags in Layout doesn’t help me at this point I don’t think. That is where I was going wrong to start with . Then fortunately Endlessfix got me going in the right direction.
I haven’t added a second viewport to a page with one viewport already on it yet. I can see that will be helpful with say a section cut or a zoomed in detail . Really looking forward to trying that.
The order is important. The concept of layers is a hold-over from the days of drafting on film. Entities drawn on a layer of film higher in the stack would appear oove entities drawn on laysers of film lower in the stack.
No. And it’s not supposed to. Move Forward and Move Backward only affect entities on the same layer.
Layer visibility is a per page property. So you can create a layer that is shared across pages. Put something like a PageNumber auto text on that layer and set it to not be shown on the cover page by turning off its visibility for that page.
I expect it was indeed incorrect setup of tags and scenes.
What I show is multiple viewports on a page but that was manily to show as many viewports in a single screen shot as possible.
Depending on what the document is and who the audience is, multple viewports on a page might be more useful than single viewports. It depends. The point is, you can do both.
I thought there would be a fairly obvious command to add a second view port. I didn’t see anything obvious or even inconspicuous. Do you mind sharing one last bit of direction with me ? I was / am content to research it tomorrow. As the kitchen is calling me to make dinner lol.
You can copy and then paste (which is a paste in place operation) after which you can move the pasted viewport either by grabbing it with the cursor and dragging it or by using the cursor keys (hold Shift for large move intervals). Alternatively you can hold Ctrl while clicking and dragging a copy of the viewport.
Not sure whether this was mentioned, but if you accidentally showed a viewport on every page, and then do 'Move to layer > [correct layer], the viewport will be moved to whatever page you’re on when you make that layer change. In other words, there are a few ways to correct it, but what I usually do is go to the intended page, right-click viewport, move to layer [correct layer]. And also note that any of the layers can be set to show on every page (the little page icon) – ‘On Every Page’ is just the default layer for a new file.
I find it easy to accidentally draw on the wrong layer – for this reason, i set up my UI to always show the Layers pane.
